Well, dear readers, we’ve had us our invited dress rehearsal. We knew there would be very few in attendance, even though we put it all over Facebook that it was free. Anyway, we had about fifteen people, including our very own Robert Yacko, Adrienne Visnic (and mom, Leslie), Sami’s grandparents, father and sister, my pal Ilona Simon-Muller and her hubby, composer (and MD of Li’l Abner) Wayne Moore, Scott Whitesell (Mayor Dawgmeat from Li’l Abner), our own Amy and Mark (who’ll also be with us opening night), and others I’m too tired to remember. We also had a video person shooting the show, although only excerpts will be used and we’ll be taping it again later in the run.
The show ran very smoothly and all the musical numbers landed really well. The opening worked great, and the monologues all went well, although we still have stuff to polish – we have to find our way to getting about ten percent of the monologues to land as they should – in that regard, we talked through each of those moments after the show, and we’ll be honing those sections over our two previews. Part of it is simply vocal technique stuff and involves not dropping the ends of lines – it’s very hard but in this theater especially you just have to figure it out. What happens in this theater, as much as I love it there, is that once bodies are in seats, the sound gets very dead and you have to project a bit more than you think. It fools you, this space. We had the exact same problem with vocal energy with Inside Out when we did it at this theater. All the actors thought they were really projecting loudly and it wasn’t coming off like that. So, it requires some subtle adjustments. The big goal is to get the audience to fall in love with Molly (and, of course, Sami), and we’re almost there – so I’m looking forward to the bigger audiences and even some audiences with younger folks, who I do think will “get” the show. When she got used to the audience and began really playing to them, that’s when things got fun. The key thing is our mantra – joy, energy, and storytelling, and to that just plain having fun. There were some really nice laughs, and the numbers all received really nice applause. One bit of sleight of hand involving a costume change got a really delighted reaction, and that was fun. The adjusted costumes looked nice.
Prior to that, I’d gotten almost eight hours of sleep. Once up, we shipped CDs and I had some telephonic calls and such. Then I had a chopped salad and bagel (very low cal lunch), and then I picked up some packages. After that, I came home and did some work on the computer and then it was time to mosey on over to the theater.
On the way home I stopped and got some chicken cutlets, which I then sautéed with mushrooms and onions – I ate it all up and it was quite yummilicious and not too bad calorie-wise.
Today, I shall pick up the programs for our show, I’ll eat something light but amusing, I’ll hopefully pick up some packages, I’ll relax, and then I’ll be on my way to the theater for our first preview performance. It looks like we have about half a house so far, so that’s pretty good and I’m hoping it will be more than that by the time we begin. We’re all excited because Richard and Elizabeth Sherman will be with us, and that’s always a treat. They saw the initial living room reading of it, so it’s changed quite a bit from then. And how does Molly/Sami feel about doing our first preview?
Before I go on, here are a couple more videos from last Sunday’s Kritzerland show. First up is Brennley Brown doing a beautiful Not While I’m Around. Brennley is but thirteen years old – she’s already like five-foot eight.
Wasn’t that lovely? And here’s irrepressible and fearless newly turned eleven-year-old Hadley Miller (she was still ten when she did this on Sunday – she turned eleven the next day) doing The Dressing Song from The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T.
Yes, the young are fearless. Tomorrow we have our final preview, and then Saturday night we open and begin our four-week run.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, endure the 100 plus degree heat, pick up programs, eat, hopefully pick up packages, and then attend our first preview performance. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite works of Dr. Seuss? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy to have had a nice final dress rehearsal.